Tag Archives: Science

The IMAGE spacecraft undergoing launch preparations in early 2000. (NASA)

ROBERTS CREEK, B.C. – An amateur astronomer in British Columbia has made a discovery that has gained the attention of NASA.

Scott Tilley, a 47-year-old electrical technologist, sneaks time away from his family when he can to search for spy satellites using radio frequency signals and a contraption of remote control cameras and antennas on the roof of his Roberts Creek home on the Sunshine Coast.

The truth is out there, and in 2015, more Canadians tried to find it when it came to UFOs.

A newly-released study by Winnipeg-based Ufology Research has found while UFOs aren’t on the minds of most people, sightings of the flying objects spiked last year to 1,267. That’s about three or four every day reported to civilian and official agencies.

Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland had more reported UFOs in 2015 compared with 2014.

News Highlights

Takaaki Kajita of Japan, director of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research and professor at the University of Tokyo, attends a press conference after learning he won the Nobel Prize in physics at the university in Tokyo, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2015. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

STOCKHOLM – Arthur McDonald — a professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., and the director of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in northern Ontario — is a co-winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on tiny particles called neutrinos.

McDonald and Japanese scientist Takaaki Kajita were cited for the discovery of neutrino oscillations and their contributions to experiments showing that neutrinos change identities.

“The discovery has changed our understanding of the innermost workings of matter and can prove crucial to our view of the universe,” the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in announcing the award early Tuesday.

McDonald, who spoke to reporters by phone from his home in Kingston immediately after the prize was announced, said being named by the committee is a “very daunting experience, needless to say.”

“Fortunately, I have many colleagues as well who share this prize with me.”

WINNIPEG – From now on when someone says it’s as cold as Winnipeg, you may have to ask them to be more specific.

Winnipeg, Manitoba? Or Winnipeg, Mars?

A team of NASA scientists who are working with the Curiosity rover as it scans the red planet have named a small patch of rock “Winnipeg.”

“It’s been looking for water, essentially, evidence of past life and things like that. So Winnipeg is one of those spots along that scientific journey,” Scott Young, an astronomer with the Manitoba Museum, said Friday.

A perigee moon, also known as a supermoon, appears over Winnipeg on Sunday night. The largest one of 2014, it occurs when the moon is closer to the Earth than it is during a regular full moon. (STAN MILOSEVIC / CHRISD.CA)

The Manitoba government is spending $9.2 million to upgrade 21 science labs across the province.

The second phase of the province’s Science Action Plan was highlighted Monday at Collège Béliveau, where the school will benefit from two upgraded labs. Renovations include replacement of millwork, fixtures, flooring, ceilings, lighting and ventilation fume hoods.

(NC) — On Earth, it would already be the next workout craze. Months after his videos of science experiments and everyday tasks such as shaving, brushing teeth and making a sandwich in space took off, Chris Hadfield’s YouTube clips about health and exercise have quietly gained their own devoted fan following.

From pumping iron and running to simply sleep, Hadfield’s workout videos have gotten more than 3.6 million views on the Canadian Space Agency’s YouTube channel.

Not only are people watching with interest as astronauts exercise, some are even copying those space voyagers’ training routines. To date, over 24,000 people have participated in NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins’ “Train like an astronaut” program.